Organised retail to help agri food sector grow: Kamal Nath

“The infrastructural growth in the agri and food sector in the country, in the coming years, is going to be helped by the growth of organised retail,” said Kamal Nath, the union minister for commerce and industry.

Speaking at the annual export award function organised by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), Nath pointed out that the infrastructure required for agriculture and food, to grow as a sector, is not apt and can only be helped by the boom in organised retailing. “Organised retail is expected to throw up new opportunities for service providers to go in for investment in the cold chain which will be important for preserving the quality of perishable food products and strengthening backward linkages with growers.”

According to Nath, the infrastructural growth will result in more produce and hence reduce the retail prices of the products. “If this happens, the consumer will benefit as they will have to pay less,” he informed.

Nath further stated the India is targetting a 5 per cent share in world trade by 2020. “Ambitious the target may be, but achieving it is not impossible. The agro exports will also have to keep pace with this rate of growth. The task is difficult, but the gains are invaluable,” said Nath. He further added that the world trade is itself increasing and by 2020, this will translate into an eight-fold increase in absolute terms.